All views expressed on this site are those of the user ONLY!

Monthly Archives: May 2015

Maybe it’s because I have been busy as of late so too tired to write or even come up with ideas, or maybe I have hit a rut or maybe it’s just writers block, but I have really been struggling to just sit down and write as of late. It’s also why I haven’t really been posting here. Sorry.

Most ideas I have had have been for rewriting stories and I have started but I just can’t seem to hold as much interest in an idea so I can keep writing it. I’ve been like this since the end of the last NaNo session. It is driving me mad. I’ve flicked through plot generators, prompts and stuff but still drawing a blank. Even when I think I have hit upon something, it turns out I haven’t.

I do wonder if I am due for hitting a rut in my writing. Whilst in high school, I had a year or so where I just couldn’t write. I just couldn’t come up with anything. I finally hit a stride again during exams but still, I had a year where I couldn’t write.

Guess I am posting here now to ask for help. Can anyone help or offer any advice that might help?

Something that people note of me is that I accidentally stare at people when I don’t mean to. It’s either because I am lost in thought, thinking about writing, or because I am failing to be subtle in my attempt to observe an interesting individual who will be great as a character.
Any habits you can add?

Perhaps the best known of all character archetypes is the hero. Most stories have a hero, after all, and even non-standard protagonists tend to be labeled by their relationship to the hero archetype: a tragic hero, for example, or an anti-hero. And one of the most common, most universal (at least according to Joseph Campbell) types of plot is the Hero’s Journey.

Common Aspects of the Hero Archetype:

Forced to leave home

Often an orphan, or discovers his/her family is not really his/her family

Tend to be uniformly “good”

Tend to see world as a division of good vs. evil

Often “chosen” in some way to defeat some great evil (prophecy, royalty, etc.)

Often has special powers in some form

Usually driven out into the world by some traumatic event

Luke Skywalker is often considered a perfect example of the Hero Archetype. Orphan, raised by remote relatives, has special powers…

Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: I can’t find enough detail about a particular area of the world my character visits. Any suggestions?

A: Try Google Street View. It’s a wonderful way to explore settings for your writing Here’s how to use it:

First, you must have Google Earth. It’s a free download and I’ve never had problems with the install. Take a minute to do that. I’ll wait.

A copy of every book published in the United Kingdom must be deposited with the British Library. This includes everything from the latest blockbuster through to the self-published history of the Jo Bloggs family. The British Library’s website provides the following succinct explanation of Legal Deposit:
“Legal deposit has existed in English law since 1662. It helps to ensure that the nation’s published output (and thereby its intellectual record and future
published heritage) is collected systematically, to preserve the material for the use of future generations and to make it available for readers within
the designated legal deposit libraries”, (see http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/legaldeposit/).
From 6 April 2013 legislation pertaining to electronic publications came into force:
“From 6 April 2013, legal deposit also covers material published electronically, so that the Legal Deposit Libraries can maintain a national collection of
e-journals, e-books, digitally published news, magazines and other types of content.